h a l f b a k e r yOn the one hand, true. On the other hand, bollocks.
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Triglycerides contain long hydrocarbon chains. Three of them, to be precise. Unsaturated fats have double bonds in these chains.
But supposed you used conjugated double bonds in your hydrocarbon chains. Then your chains would absorb various wavelengths of light. Make several of these fats have
chains of different lengths, mix them together, and only a few wavelengths would reflect, and you would see colour.
Besides being hideously unstable, and almost impossible to synthesize, this would be a most awesome feat.
Fluorescent lipids
http://www.nature.c.../full/nmeth728.html
Pretty close? [jmvw, Sep 14 2006]
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Annotation:
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How do the "conjugated double bonds"
in your colored triglys differ from the
double bonds in unsaturated fats? Are
you conjugating them to something
other that hydrogen? |
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//this would be a most awesome feat.//
Is awesome really the right word? I mean, pink butter is only going to be exciting the first couple of times, after that you're just going to get used to it. |
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//Is awesome really the right word? I mean, pink butter is only going to be exciting the first couple of times, after that you're just going to get used to it.// |
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I think he means scientifcally not aesthetically zen'. |
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"Conjugated" means the double and single bonds alternate, ie /\/\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\/\/\
or
------=-=-=-=--- |
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as opposed to the isolated double bonds in a normal "unsaturated" chain. This has the effect of creating a large system of pi-electrons which forms a large section of the molecule which absorbs and emits light in the visible spectrum. |
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I honestly don't know if a continuously conjugated linear hydrocarbon will ever absorb in the visible range, no matter how long you make it. Even if it will, from the "flourescent lipids" paper it looks like you'd have to do more than 5 continguous conjugated bonds. At that point you're basically making polyacetylene and it can be expected to oxidize fairly readily under ambient conditions. |
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